A financial education is something everyone should endeavor to acquire. I remember ... "They should have told me I was overdrawn."

... I don't buy the excuse of "I didn't know my spouse's pension would end when he died" either. To me it is about the same level of education as the checking account issue.

tmeri,

I think you are preaching to the choir here. We are on the Fool because we are involved in our/our spouses finances and are taking charge of our own financial lives. In some households, the computer is for e-mailing jokes to friends and relatives. In some it is to learn at the Fool, in still others there is no computer. There are some men out in the world who don't know there are different screwdrivers or hammers for different jobs. Just as there are people who are totally clueless about simple finances. My parents were like this - dad made the money, mom took care of the finances. Dad knew there was money and what was coming in each month but was a lousy investor, managing to lose a couple of fortunes. Mom was a LBYMer and managed to save enough for them to retire 'comfortably'. If she had died first, dad would have been lost or would have given it to scammers.

The point is not all people are smart investors. Nor do all people read what their employers(or banks, financial institutes, pension funds, etc) require them to sign. Barnum was right - there is a sucker born every minute!